Say What?

So I just ripped a hole in the last pair of good pair of jeans I own. It is an epic rip at that. This brings me to what all I need to blog this week. I recently took my measurements and was shocked at how bad things have gotten. It truly motivated me to do something. This week I have been on top of my diet and working out daily. I may not be able to work out a lot but I have made an effort to do at least 15 minutes of cardio every day. Today we went to the casino with my parents and we ate at the buffet. Lucky for me there was just a few choices and I skipped on the dessert. However, I’m not exactly thrilled about it because I can’t validate how many calories I consumed. So, I’m going to hit the elliptical extra hard today.

I wanted to list my measurements so that I can show my progress. My goal is to break 170lbs by April. I hope to be in the 160s by June. Truly, I need to be in the 150s to have a health BMI. Here are my numbers as of last Sunday:

Waist	Hips	Thighs	Arms	Weight
39”	45”	25.5”	14”	184lbs

I am going to be keeping track of my measurements so that I can track my progress. I have started my yoga classes back up twice a week and there is a cycling class that is right yoga that I plan on attending to help me burn more calories and build some stamina.  I am going to start lifting some light weights on Mondays and Wednesdays. Even if I don’t hit the gym, I am making a commitment to myself to use the elliptical in our bedroom.

Also, I am going to start a book today. I must read. That was on my to do list a couple of posts ago but I never got to it. So, new goal, I will have read a book by February 15^th. I hope all of you had a great weekend. I’m feeling truly blessed and can’t wait to see what work holds for me this week.

Exciting News!

Let’s see…I need to catch everyone up on this week. I did a small stint in the ER do to some chest pain and pressure. I had a CT scan and EKG ran which all came back with good news. I do not have a reoccurrence of embolism and my plural effusion is almost nonexistent. I met with my pulmonologist yesterday and he had good news for me as well. I am going to be able to exercise. I just have to refrain from contact sports. I think I can handle this restriction. I will be going back in 3 months to see if I can get off of Coumadin and what path forward I need to take from there. We think the chest pain and pressure was a result of my lungs fully expanding and reattaching to the chest lining. I hit 100% oxygen saturation for the first time. I do have some infarctions in my lung where the blood clots cut off oxygen flow. The infarctions can result in scar tissue or because I am young, my body may be able to redirect blood flow to these areas.

My head has been spinning this week with the new job. I am so grateful for the being blessed with this new opportunity.  I received a promotion, a pay raise, a company vehicle, every other Friday off, and a larger annual bonus. I am glad all of my hard work paid off. I was so afraid that missing work due to my embolism would affect what people thought of my work ethic. However, I have received nothing but full support from the people I work with. I can’t wait to fully get started and dive in. There is so much new information being presented to me and I’m doing my best to let it all soak in.

To have all this positive news is a great start to the year. I’m so excited to see what the future brings and what I will be doing. I truly cannot express how grateful I am to everyone and everything. Thank you all for being there through my lows and my highs.

Saturday and Priorities

So it’s Saturday and I started the day out with a cup of coffee and throwing in a load of laundry. Effective January 1, I started a new position in my company and received a company vehicle. The goal this weekend is to clean the garage out so that we can park one of our vehicles in the garage to make room for my company vehicle in the driveway. I really just want to chunk things into the trash rather than sort through them.  While I know this needs to be done I’m thinking I would like to start reading a book and there is a ton of house work that I could be doing. Priorities….priorities.

Here’s what I do know, I need to be up and moving. Housework is a workout in itself. I need to keep from being sedentary. The physical condition I am currently in is worse than the condition I was in prior to my embolism. What little muscle I had holding my gut in prior to hospitalization is gone. I have difficulty when taking a bag of trash out or lifting the laundry basket. All of this use to be a normal activity. I don’t want things to get worse. I don’t want to be stuck in a rut that I cannot get out of. My goals for this weekend:

1.       Not to sabotage my diet

2.       Get the garage cleaned out and have a vehicle in it

3.       Start a book

4.       30 minutes cardio Saturday and Sunday

Everybody Needs a Little John Mayer

Absolutely great entertainment from a great entertainer:

New Year New Goals

Resolutions are epic fails in my world so instead I am going to set goals. I can handle goals, especially when I am paid to achieve them. I recently received a promotion with a title change. I will be required to go to the field and that means FRC’s (flame retardant clothing). This clothing is meant to protect you, not to make a fashion statement. I have a single pair of woman’s FRC pants. They are the equivalent to 1980’s “mom jeans.” They cut into your gut when you sit for long rides. Leading to:

Goal #1: By December 2012 I will be 20lbs lighter, therefore not having the jean in gut issue.

Goal #2: Finish Breaking Dawn. I need to know what happens to Bella despite the realization that there is no book to follow up with, no ever after….

Goal #3: Go places and take pictures. Life is too short to live at home year around.

Goal #4: Read at least 6 books this year. This means at least one every other month. I need to stay up with the rest of the world.

Goal #5: Focus on getting out of bed every morning. I have never been a morning person, but being a grown up requires you to do such things. So suck it up and get up.

I’m sure I many other goals along the way, but these are the ones that I want to see to the end.

The Main Event

As most of you are aware, I have been trying to recover from the effects of my pulmonary embolism. I find that daily tasks that I use to do without thought are now tiring and cause exhaustion. During the Christmas break I took Chase to go Christmas shopping. We spent an hour in the mall walking from store to store. I struggled to move through the crowds to keep up with Chase. By the time we got home I was ready to go to bed. Mind you, three months ago I was in the gym trying to better my run time.  So this lack of stamina is really getting to me. I lost weight when I was hospitalized due to no appetite. Finding my appetite has been a great blessing but when I’m not burning the calories I consume, the flab continues to rebuild.  Here I am frustrated because my body feels good but I’m not at a physical point to run marathons to get myself back into shape. 

I am going to post some pictures that will help you all to understand what I went through and a little so that I can cope with the fact that my recovery is slow.  

This is similar to what my plural effusions looked like. The white portion of the lungs reflects the fluid in the lungs. Like this picture, I had fluid on both sides of my chest.

This is the actual fluid removed from the left side of my chest. The procedure done to remove this fluid is called a thoracentesis. I had this procedure performed 3 times, once on my left side and twice on my right. The left side contained 350mL and 1145mL on the right.

Here is a video of the procedure. I passed out completely the first go around. I struggled through the other two.

Any how, this was just a quick fill on what has happened. I'm going to attempt to go to the gym tomorrow. My goal is to take it easy. I would like to walk 1 mile and lift some light weights. I will be checking in with my doctor on the 13th to see if we can set up a more defined exercise plan.